"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you"

Hello all.  Today has been a very busy day, so I will have to keep it short unfortunately.  First thing's first.  TRANSFERS...  Yep... it's that time of six weeks again.  Already.  So I got a call from Elder Bulunga Saturday evening and ...........................................................  I'M TRAINING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That's right.  This is by far my all-time favorite calling as a missionary.  Yes, it's hard.  Yes, it takes lots of patience.  And no, missionary work doesn't progress quite as quickly, but it is such an amazing time of growth in not only the trainee but in the trainer as well!  As my companion has not been "officially" assigned at this time, I will present him next week.  But the one that has been assigned to me as of now is Congolese.

Besides that, it's been a wonderful week!  We have had many opportunities to give service out of the ordinary, with more planned for this week!  (see pictures below) We have found many new people to teach!  The work is really starting to pick up here in Akpakpa!  Elder Jeneseri is sad to be leaving after spending his first 7 months in this area, but he's going literally just next door to Avotrou, bordering our area right now!

Like I said, I do not have much time today, but I would like to share my testimony of being converted to the Lord.

Conversion to the Lord is one of the sweetest feelings that I have ever had the opportunity to taste in my life.  Over the past few months, a few things have come up where it would have been very easy to just be fed up and done with it.  Many instances could have led to disappointment and sorrow, but with the conversion to the Lord that He has so graciously given to me, I have been able to keep my head up and carry on with faith.

I am a changed person.  I am nowhere near perfect, but the Lord has produced a profound change in heart in me.  I compare this feeling to Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, found in 1 Nephi 8.  The story recounts that when Lehi tasted of the fruit, it was sweeter above all else that he had tasted.  So sweet that he look around immediately and wanted to share it with his family and friends.  This is why I have sacrificed the past 20 months of my life and will gladly sacrifice the next 4 to the Lord's work!  I have tasted of this fruit!  I have felt what the prophets ancient and modern have described as a change of heart that produces this fruit!  I know what it feels like to be accepted by God Himself, which is why I want to share this with as many as I can.  So please, if you have not yet tasted of this fruit, I ask of you and invite you to search, ponder, and pray to find it.  I promise you that you will.  With the Lord's help, we can all draw closer to Him.  He has promised us that as we "draw near unto [Him], [He] will draw near unto us." (see D&C 88:63)

I love you all so much, and I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful week and seek to draw closer to the Lord as I seek to draw ever closer to Him.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

One of our unique opportunities for service:  Our neighbor got locked out of their apartment by her two year-old daughter

So,  Elder Jeneseri had to use the wooden ladder to cross from our balcony to theirs to go into their apartment and unblock the door.

It was kinda intense, but the Lord was protecting us.  We were praying very intesnely as well.  It took like      30 minutes to figure out.

"... Cleave unto the Lord and serve him with all your heart and all you soul"

Well, what a week it has been.  There have been many ups and downs, but mostly ups.  There have been many, many important lessons learned.  And I feel like I say that every week, but this week it just has so much more feeling and sincerity in my heart.  These two years truly are the best for learning the precious lessons of the gospel and of life.

Well, to start off, I sent off Elder Sahue on Tuesday and my new companion, Elder Nkanza (from DR Congo), got here on Wednesday, direct from the MTC!!!  So far it's been amazing!!!  I love him so much.  He's energetic, yet quiet and very humble.  He's obedient and a very good listener.  He's serious and is very ready to work, which I LOVE!!!!!!!  I'm very excited for our future.

I have been very grateful this week for my first experience with training back in February.  I have decided to take things a little bit differently, and I think it really reflects my personal quests and studies.  Instead of focusing so much on the material and teaching methods (as I did back in February), I have really been focusing on what matters most in the mission, OBEDIENCE and THE SPIRIT.  He has been very attentive and is already able to pay attention to the little details.  He's also amazing at giving service.  I can't even count how many times I've been served in the five days that we've been together.

I'm so looking forward this next week to getting into more of a doctrinal study together, though we've already had a couple of awesome discussions!  But now we'll be more focused on the lesson content and teaching methods.

My apologies for another short letter.  The computer has been so very slow today.  Also, hopefully next week I will have pictures because I have word that my new camera is here!!!

A scripture that touched me during my studies this week of service and sacrifice is Joshua 22:5, especially where it says, "...cleave unto the Lord and serve him with all your heart and all you soul."  My appologies if it's not exactly correct, it was written from memory and translated from French.

I love you all so very much.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Zone Conference and the Voodoo Market

with Elders Peterson and Kunz - Love these guys!

Bonsoir mes amis!  I'm writing a bit late today because we had some pretty crazy adventures today!  Anyways, it's been a great week, and  I'll start with the big news that's come in!

So this past Saturday, we got our transfer calls from the Assistants, and the missionaries in Baguida all received some big news!  Elder Rasolo (my companion) and Elder Kunz (the other American in the apartment) are both being transferred to Benin!  That means Elder Dih and I will be staying in the apartment together.  However, we found out that we will both be training!!!  My new companion (and I was made aware that this could change) that has been assigned to work with me is Elder Dakouri from Côte d'Ivoire!  Elder Dih will be training a new French missionary, which also means that I will be the only English speaking missionary in the apartment!  AND, I have also been called to serve as District Leader!  Wow.  Peeps weren't lyin when they said it was gonna be a big transfer.  Well, I honestly don't know what to say.  I'm humbled by the jump that I have to make from junior companion to trainer and DL.  I know the Lord will support me in my weaknesses so that I may fulfill my duties and pray that I can remain a humble servant of the Lord and all those around me.

On top of all that, we had Zone Conference last Friday, and it was amazing!  The Spirit that accompanied the conference with Elder Clayton and Elder Vinson transferred right on over to our Zone Conference.  

All of the birthdays at Zone Conference!  It was different having
it at Souza instead of Kégué, but I still loved it!

Oh!  Side note: the Assistants worked with us on Thursday and stayed with us over night.  As we were driving over to Souza-Netimé, a policeman blew his whistle and pointed at us, but didn't pursue us so we kept on going.  Then, a minute later, he was on his high-tech moto blaring his siren behind us.  One thing about Togo is that ALL of the taxis have at least 7 people in them, in cars for 5. (We do it at least once a week.  It was pretty uncomfortable at first, but I'm used to it now.)  So we thought we thought, like normal, we'd be fine with 6 of us.  Well, Benin plates in Togo + 3 white people in the car = yeaahh.  Well, we got to the conference in time despite that little delay.

Anyways, the conference was phenomenal.  Everything felt like it was directed at me, and my testimony was once again strengthened on how the Spirit can work in each of us individually.  I learned many, many lessons that I am very excited to apply with the new roles that are coming my way soon!  Afterwards, we got a ride back with President and Soeur Weed to Baguida, so transport for the day was FREE!

Yesterday, we had a little visit from President and Soeur Weed at Church, which helped fortify our branch a bit, and we were able to have a good discussion together about the changes being made, which helped me as well.

Finally, today.  Elder Kunz and I spent the whole day at the grand marché again with Elder Peterson and Elder Legbanon (from Benin).  We started by looking for a backpack, a new watch, and a washboard for me, all of which was decently easy.  I brought the backpack down from about 14 dollars (7,000 CFA) to 6 (3,000 CFA) and the watch from 11 dollars (5,500 CFA) to 2 (1,000 CFA).  We then got some charwamas for lunch at Akif's, and as we were finishing eating, this American guy walked in with his French translator.  The first thing that he said to us was, "Oh my goodness.  The Mormons followed me here!"  He then proceeded to take out his camera and film his conversation with each of us asking us where we're from, etc.  He was amazed to find out that the Church is out here, but he was a super nice and friendly.  His French translator was surprisingly friendly as well.  He complimented my accent.

Another view of the grand marché from today!

My new backpack

After lunch we all went to the Voodoo market in Akodessewa.  Since Benin is the Voodoo capital of the world, all of the vendors are Beninese, so Elder Legbanon was in heaven just being able to speak Fon with them.  The market was pretty cool!  They said we had to pay 3,000 CFA for the tour ($6) and an extra 2,000 CFA ($4) to take pictures.  I paid it, and it was worth it.  There was some way cool stuff there, and we got to play with some snakes and see some chameleons.  Elder Legbanon said there's way more things like this that are better in Benin, but it was still good!  I got some good pictures of lots of dried up animals.

SNAKE!  (It's alive)

Monkey!

Dog!

Horse!

Baboon hand/foot!

Turtle!

Well, this week has been another amazing one!  The people out here are amazing, and there are so many who are searching for the truth and who find it in this Church and in this message.  One aspect of the mission that I absolutely love is that I get to testify every single day that I KNOW that this is true, and what is even better is the Spirit that accompanies this message.  My work here is to bring others to Jesus Christ and to help them draw closer to Him every day.  I have been so blessed to be here, and there are too many experiences to share with you to testify of how I know that these things are true.  This Church really is the one message of the whole truth that can be found on the earth today.

I love you all so much.  Have an amazing week!
Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

First of my two pagne outfits that came on Saturday!

Second one!

With Elder Kunz

Thought these clouds looked pretty cool!

(Note from mom:  Here's the link to the interview with the American Elder Jenkins mentions above: 

HoboTraveler.com Mormons in Lome Togo